A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2): The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated CirripedesDarwin, Charles
Science
A Monograph on the Sub-class Cirripedia (Volume 1 of 2): The Lepadidae; Or, Pedunculated Cirripedes
Darwin, Charles
Cirripedia; Lepadidae
_Peduncle._--This, as already remarked, cannot be distinctly separated
from the capitulum; it is much compressed; it is composed of unusually
thin and delicate membrane, transversely wrinkled and thickly clothed
with long cylindrical horns or spines of chitine. These horns (fig. 8
_c´_) are not the analogues of the spines which are articulated on the
external membranes of many Pedunculated and Sessile Cirripedes, but of
the calcified scales on the peduncle of Scalpellum and Pollicipes; for
they pass through the membrane (the underlying corium being marked by
their bases) and are persistent, being added to, like the valves, during
each successive period of growth. Their bases are concave, so that a
section of the layers of growth exhibits a series of pointed cones, one
within another. Each spine is nearly cylindrical, irregularly curled,
and nodose or slightly enlarged at intervals: the apex smooth and
pointed; the exterior surface longitudinally and finely ribbed, like the
valves. The spines increase irregularly in size from the bottom to the
top of the peduncle, those at the carinal and rostral ends being
generally the longest; they point upwards and hide the bases of the
valves. They are not arranged symmetrically, and new ones are formed
over all parts of the peduncle. They are formed of the same substance as
the valves, and do not contain any calcareous matter. These horns are
yellowish, generally ringed with pale and dark blueish brown, which on
pressure becomes slightly opalescent with pale blue and fiery red:
sometimes only the upper horns are thus ringed, and in rare instances
all are simply yellowish. The muscles of the peduncle run up to the
bases of the four valves.
_Surface of Attachment._--The cement appears to proceed from only two
points. In some specimens, a considerable length of one side of the
peduncle was fastened to the surface of attachment, the horns or spines
being enveloped in the cement. The prehensile antennæ of the larva will
presently be described under the male.
The _length_ of an average specimen, including the peduncle and valves,
is about half an inch, and the width across the widest part one fifth of
an inch. Mr. Cuming has one specimen an inch in length, but this is
owing to the peduncle being unusually tapering. In a specimen kept some
years in spirits, the cirri, trophi, caudal appendages, and corium under
the membrane between the scuta, were all dark purple; the sack and
corium of peduncle clouded with purple, and the prosoma pale-coloured.
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